Woman reports intruder held her down

LORAIN — Rebecca Wallace, 65, was asleep in her home early Tuesday morning when someone entered her bedroom, put a hand over her mouth and told her he would kill her if she moved.

“I was scared stiff. I didn’t know what to do,” Wallace said.

Around 4 a.m. Tuesday, Wallace was awakened by a crash when two men entered her home on the 200 block of West 23rd Street. One man came into the bedroom and, putting a hand over Wallace’s mouth, told her he would “bash (her) head in” if she moved, according to the police report.

As one man held Wallace to the bed, the other began going through her house, ripping her 60-inch television from its attachments, stealing her PlayStation and taking the $80 she had in the home.

The first man left Wallace in her room, saying that he would kill her if she tried to get out, according to the report. The two suspects then ransacked her house for 20 minutes, looking for anything to steal, according to the report.

Just before they left, the men cut her phone cords and warned her not to call the police, Wallace said, adding that she had a phone hidden in her room which she used to call for help when the men were gone.

Wallace said she couldn’t see the men very well, but one was wearing gloves and both men had on hooded sweatshirts and ski masks.

This is the second time in a year that someone has broken into the home Wallace shares with her husband, Robert. The first time was in February when neither Rebecca Wallace nor her husband was at the house. The two came home after the first burglary last winter to find their television stolen, Robert Wallace said.

On Tuesday morning, police set up a perimeter around the area and gathered evidence from the house but despite searching the neighborhood they couldn’t find the men.

Robert Wallace, who arrived home from work shortly after the incident said he found police cars around his house and his wife visibly upset.

“She wasn’t physically hurt … but her pride was hurt, her faith was hurt,” Robert Wallace said.

Since the break-in, the couple has tried to comfort each other and their dachshund, who they believe was kicked by one of the burglars.

“He’s hurting… He’s just lying there,” Rebecca Wallace said.

Both Rebecca and Robert Wallace are continuing work and looking for a new television but Robert said the invasion was a difficult blow so close to the holidays.